


Changes in Circumstance

by hjea



Category: Castle
Genre: Babies, Established Relationship, F/M, Family, Future Fic, Gen, Sisters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-02
Updated: 2012-03-02
Packaged: 2017-11-01 00:22:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/349937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hjea/pseuds/hjea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alexis's family has gone through some changes lately. She's fairly happy about it all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Changes in Circumstance

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted 10/19/11.

The phone call finally came—buzzing on silent against the table until Alexis snatched it up in one quick movement and pressed it against her ear. There was a moment of tense silence as she listened to the other end, and then her whoop of joy echoed against the library walls—eliciting a chorus of glares from studying students that for once Alexis didn’t care about at all. Cramming her pens and papers into her bag, she stood, and turned a brilliant smile onto the particularly peevish-looking guy in the corral opposite hers. “My dad and his partner just had a baby.” Going for broke, she stuck her tongue between her teeth and winked. “So suck it.”   
  
  
Alexis double-checked with the nurse, but assured that she was indeed at the right room, slowly eased the door open as quietly as she could, and craned her neck around to peer into the dim light. She could vaguely make out the figure moving gently back and forth in the rocking chair, and pitched her voice to a low whisper. “Is it okay to come in?”   
  
“Of course.” He lifted one hand to beckon her closer, and Alexis inched the rest of her body through the door and then tiptoed softly towards the centre of the room. He smiled up at her.   
  
“How are you, Alexis?”   
  
“I’m fine—great!—thanks, Mr. Beckett.”   
  
He chuckled softly. “I think Jim is fine—again.”   
  
Alexis blushed, a little embarrassed. “Right! Sorry.”   
  
The older man continued rocking unhurriedly. “Did you just get here? See your dad yet?”   
  
“I came straight from the train station. I was so excited I couldn’t wait any longer. Dad found me just now outside in the hall. More like a bear hug attack, but,” she shrugged, “You know dad.” Jim smiled his agreement. “He looked really happy; tired, but happy. He’s gone to get some coffee. I looked in on Kate too, but she’s still asleep.”   
  
“Katie needs that rest. She’s had a long day. A long few months, really.”   
  
Alexis nodded. “I can imagine.”   
  
  
Well, she couldn’t. Not completely. But she knew that Kate’s pregnancy certainly hadn’t been an easy one. Her first trimester had been filled with such violent morning sickness that she’d been taken off duty and put on what was essentially bed rest for three weeks. Even by the time she and dad had dropped Alexis off at the start of the semester, Kate had looked tired, drawn, and hollow-cheeked from weight she couldn’t afford to lose—except in the outward curve of her stomach. Alexis had been reassured to see her look so much better when she came home for the Christmas holiday, rounded out and cheerful, but there was still a marked difference from the strong and vigorous detective Alexis had grown to know and love over the years. The nine months had certainly taken a toll. And now with the last 38 hours of waiting anxiety—suffice to say it wasn’t just happiness she had felt in her dad’s sweeping hug in the hall, but the coursing feeling of overwhelming relief that Kate had come through this all more or less okay. That they both had.   
  
  
Jim looked up at the young woman, as if reading her thoughts. “She’ll be just fine. I can never help worrying, but even I know that Katie’s always tougher than she seems.”    
  
“Now,” Jim slowly stood up and gestured with his chin for Alexis to take his place in the rocking chair. “You probably want to see who you’ve come all this way for.”   
  
Heart-thudding, Alexis sat, and felt a sudden wave of panic that she wouldn’t know what to do with her hands. It occurred to her that she could count the number of times she’d held a baby on one hand, and an hours-old one would be a totally new experience. But without batting a lid, Jim calmly placed the tightly-wrapped bundle just-so in her arms, and nodded at her reassuringly.   
  
Alexis gulped and looked down. The baby’s tiny features were closed in sleep, seemingly not bothered at all by the slightly-awkward handing off. Delicate fists curled tightly around the edge of the hospital blanket, and the slightly too-large hat had slipped back just far enough to reveal a swirl of darkish hair.   
  
“I think she looks like Katie. But your father and grandmother both swear she looks exactly like you did when you were born—except for the hair colour, of course.”   
  
Alexis tried to conjure up a memory of the many pictures she had seen of her newborn self for comparison, but the thoughts she kept getting stuck on instead were, “she’s so  _small_ ,” and, “she’s my  _sister_ .”   
  
  
When her dad had first told about this baby--obviously unexpected but nevertheless wanted by he and Kate both--Alexis had felt shocked and, she admitted to herself, not a little resentful that she had no sooner moved out than she was being replaced. It was a struggle, even knowing how much her dad loved Kate, to fit herself into this new concept of a family when for nearly 20 years it had been just the two of them--with Gram or her mother making the occasional dramatic entrance from stage left. A baby represented such a huge change from everything she was used to. She had been scared. But the shift in her attitude had snuck up on her over the months of Kate’s pregnancy. Alexis had been so caught up in first worry and anxiety, and then an overwhelming urge to help and comfort the older woman who she was slowly realizing meant nearly as much to her as she did to her father. And then she had been there when the baby kicked hard for the first time—insistent pokes against the wall of Kate’s stomach while she was helping Alexis place books on her dorm shelves—and the two of them had grinned at each other in delight. It wasn’t exactly sudden, but a slow realization that, in a way, this baby was just as much a part of her—was hers—as it was to her dad and Kate. And she knew that she wanted this new life after all; for the two of them to share this family together.    
  
  
Jim cleared his throat quietly. “Did your dad tell you what they’ve decided to name her?”   
  
“No.” Alexis looked up at him. “He told me to ask you, actually,” And she raised her eyebrows inquisitively.   
  
Jim shuffled a little one foot to the other and wiped a hand across his mouth, half hiding a self-conscious smile. “They’ve settled on Jamie.”   
  
Alexis beamed at him, crinkling her eyes in delight. “That’s wonderful—congratulations!”   
  
The old man nodded, and continued. “Jamie Alexis.”   
  
Alexis felt her mouth drop open in surprise. She blinked at Jim, and then back down at the baby in her arms. “Oh.” She finally managed. And then, with a growing smile—“ _Wow_ .”   
  
Jim touched Alexis gently on the shoulder. His other hand reached down to brush the baby’s cheek softly with one finger, and without waking she turned her head into her grandfather’s touch. Alexis reflected on how funny it was that they were now connected forever through this new person—not just through their blood, but through the gift her father and Kate had given them in her naming. Watching Jim now, she could see the wealth of deep gentleness he had passed on to his daughter—maybe not always so obvious in the detective, but intrinsic to her compassionate nature nonetheless. Alexis was struck by a sudden sting of regret that she would never get to meet Kate’s mother, and that her little sister would never meet one of her grandmothers. She knew the baby would be loved, generously and exuberantly by all the family she had. But it was still a loss. Carefully, she shifted the baby to one arm, and used the other to reach up and squeeze Jim’s hand tightly with her own. He squeezed just as tightly back.   
  
After a moment more of feeling both happy and overwhelmed, Alexis carefully got to her feet. She watched the baby for any sign of disturbance, but she seemed as blissfully unawares and deeply asleep as always. “Would you mind taking her again? I want to find dad, and maybe track down Gram. And Kate might be awake now—I can’t wait to see her.”    
  
“Of course.” Jim skilfully scooped the bundle from her in a smooth movement. “The nurses will probably be ready to take the baby back to her room once Katie is awake, so I’m sure you’ll see us both again soon.”   
  
“Great!” Alexis felt like she was vibrating now she was on her feet again, heart fluttering against her ribcage in excitement at all these changes. “Wow. What a day, huh?” Jim laughed in agreement. “What a day.” He smiled—again—but this time Alexis saw pride also reflected in the warmth of his eyes. “Congratulations. Big sister Alexis.”   
  
Alexis grinned back “Congratulations—Grandpa Jim.”    
  
Before she left, Alexis bent and dropped a feather-light kiss onto the baby’s head, and breathed in a little of the clean newborn smell of her. “Nice to meet you… Jamie Alexis,” she whispered, “We’re glad you’re here.”   
  
The baby actually stirred then, and opened the slit of her eyes the smallest amount to stare into the mirrored-blue gaze of her sister, before she settled back with a grunt of contentment into comfortable sleep.   
  
  
Alexis walked back down the hall, heart still thumping and hands shaking like she was in the aftermath of an adrenaline rush—akin to the feeling she got after an exam or a fencing match, but also so much more. She wanted to do so many things: call everyone she knew, hug her dad again, jump up and down in excitement with Gram, thank Kate, and make sure she knew just how happy she was, and how much she meant to her. She wondered if Jim felt these things too, holding his first granddaughter in his arms, or if he was so bemused by the joy of it all that he just had to be quiet and still. She would ask him, Alexis decided, the next time they had moment together. Maybe she would ask him about his wife as well, if he didn’t seem to mind. It’s not like she wouldn’t have plenty of chances; he was part of this new family now too. It was time for her to get to know them. 


End file.
